Brexit

Given that so many decision-makers in the media were at Oxford at the same time as Rees-Mogg (who was no shrinking violet - the university newspaper Cherwell was full of him), and of Boris Johnson, they knew exactly what they were like as people - not cartoon characters - and how ambitious they were. They can't claim retrospective ignorance. Yet they went ahead and presented these figures to the public as though they were entertainment. Ditto Farage and co.

I have a theory - it's the only one that might put a 'positive but stupid' spin on the media's actions. After Greece, there was a strong Left-wing feeling growing against the EU, including in the Guardian, where Owen Jones wrote about 'Lexit' and media voices like Caitlin Moran joined in (she has since deleted her tweets, but Jones' piece quoting her is still online). The mainstream media may have though oo,er. let's head this off at the pass and give some ludicrous right-wingers a platform, paint the EU opposition as a bunch of comedy right-wing characters so the Left will want to disassociate itself from them. Many on the Left did indeed disassociate themselves but by prominently platforming so many right-wingers the media unleashed a beast with a momentum they couldn't stop, giving what was once marginal and dirty the gloss of credibility. The media have 'form' on this - for example, John Simpson and others believe that by giving Khomeini the platform of an interview with the BBC when he was in exile in Paris in the 70s they gave him the political credibility he needed.

If only... www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/westminster-new-theatre-2019-commons_48789.html

I’m no Rees-Mogg fan but I do love this moment when he completely owned David Dimbleby after highlighting his privileged Eton background 🤣

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/video/2015/dec/18/david-dimbleby-eton-tory-mp-jacob-rees-mogg-video

Jezza in it for financial gain? I'm giving up on (mainstream) politics if that is the case.

Well it's all going swimmingly.

I do recall being told in this thread that everything would be OK and sorted by March 29. Still waiting...

The resignation of the Tory whip by Nick Boles tonight was quite dramatic. If your going to do it, do it in style.

The British Parliament must be the laughing stock of the world at the moment. It is frankly a disgrace that a decision of this magnitude cannot be made.

Kenneth Clarke’s Custom Union deal came only 3 votes short.

Ironic if the newly formed Independent Group (Change) voted with this bill, it would have had an majority.

I am certain that the Independent Group would prefer a Custom Union deal, rather than a no deal.

Ironic also that Kenneth Clarke put forward this deal given he is very Pro-EU and that stance cost him the chance to be Tory leader on a couple of occasions. But as the Father of the House, he probably realises that a deal needs to be done and being a respected senior politician on the more moderate side of the Tory party, he probably has a better chance than most to help pull some consensus together.

Agreed those Labour MP's are a disgrace but as a whole Labour and the SNP were the most pragmatic parties last night. They voted for the referendum and the soft Brexit options and pushed them all close. 

I understand where the Lib Dems and TIG are coming from, focusing on the referendum and not voting for soft Brexit but this isn't two years ago when these votes should have been happening, we are staring no deal in the face and it's getting to the point where the sane end of Parliament need to rally around an option to take control of the agenda from the government. That said Ken Clarke has a bit of a cheek complaining they aren't voting for his common market when he won't vote for a referendum.

The sadly diminishing rational end of the Tory party meanwhile look very isolated - I wonder if the shock from Boles last night might embolden a few more to get behind some sort of compromise. 

And for all the - Parliament are a disgrace calls, it's important to remember it was the government who got us here in the first place, by treating at 52/48 win as some kind of clear vote for their specific form of Brexit, refusal to engage with Parliament at any point, delaying on the deal in December so using up precious time, even last night they tried to stop the votes from happening and then banned cabinet ministers from taking part. The Commons are trying to come up with some kind of rational solution, the government are just refusing to engage.